seekersfandomcom-20200213-history
The Quest Begins
The Quest Begins is the first volume in the Seekers series of 6 books. Kallik is featured on the cover. The three main bears stand underneath Kallik's portrait, gazing at the North Star. Back Cover Their long journey is about to begin.... Three bears from different species-black, polar, and grizzly-are separated from their families when they are only cubs. Each determined to survive in the harsh wilderness, they find themselves brought together on a perilous journey guided by a shape-shifting grizzly cub whose destiny will effect them all. Fate is about to change these bears' lives forever, bringing them amazing adventures, unexpected suffering, and finally setting their paws on a path toward a future they cannot yet imagine.... Blurb Their long journey is about to begin... Kallik is a young polar bear, happy to travel with her mother and brother across the ice towards land and eager to arrive before burn-sky, when the ice will melt. At the same time, grizzly bear cub Toklo and his family journey over a mountain toward the salmon river, searching desperately for food. Toklo's brother, Tobi, is sick, and their mother presses Toklo to travel farther and faster to bring Tobi to safety. And, in the Bear Bowl of a zoo, young black bear Lusa plays, eats the sweet fruit tossed by her keepers, and dreams of a life in the forest, where a black bear can be quick and clever enough to outwit even the biggest enemy. Fate is about to change these three bears' lives forever, bringing them amazing adventures and unexpected suffering, and finally setting their paws on a path towards a future they cannot yet imagine.... Detailed Plot Summary This book starts out with Nisa telling her cubs, Kallik and Taqqiq about the Spirits of the bears in the sky while they are forced underground by a storm, and Kallik is scared because of the story of Silaluk , and Taqqiq teases her abot it. Then they go outside when the storm is over and play, and then Nisa shows them how to catch a seal.. Taqqiq teases Kallik about the ice, and then falls asleep. When a seal comes out, the white bear family eats it. However, when a bear approaches. Nisa drives her cubs away, and Kallik thinks it unfair the bear didn't catch it but gets to eat it. They wake up the next morning with Nisa being extra jumpy, and Kallik nearly falls through the ice. Nisa rescues her and they go to find food. We go to the Bear Bowl in the zoo where a flat-face is describing Lusa to the flat-faces. Lusa climbs on a log and jumps off with perfect balance, and the flat-face gives her a pear. Lusa runs from Yogi , who is from a different zoo, to keep her pear. They litterally run into King , who startles them almost more than the fat brown bear in the next exibit, and Lusa's mother Ashia tells them not to annoy King. Lusa and Yogi go inside a cave and play a game where the first one to move loses, and Lusa loses by scratching her nose while thinking about the white and brown nears. Lusa and Yogi then go ask Stella to tell them a story, and she tells them about Old Bear , a bear who lived there, and one morning they found him dead. The flat-faces took him away, but Stella claims you can still see his face in one of the trees. Lusa and Yogi try to find the tree. Lusa spots the tree, but is startled by a beetle she thinks is a nose. Yogi teases her, and then they follow the flat-faces to eat. Lusa is given a back-scratch before the flat-faces go to give food to the fat grizzly, and Yogi tries to give Lusa a rotten apple. Stella scolds her, saying the apple could have a bear spirit in it, and Lusa dramatically announces she won't eat a bear spirit and she'll "never be able to eat an apple again!" with Yogi and Stella laughing. Lusa and her family crowd inside the white dens, except King who likes to sleep in the woods. Stella tells them the story of a black bear cub, who has a star in his tail in the sky. A brown bear always tries to steal it from the cub, but the cub outwits him every time. Lusa goes outside to try and see the cub. The next chapter starts with Toklo hunting a rabbit, when his mother, Oka , snaps him out of his daydream, and Toklo abandons his "rabbit " (peice of wood) and flees as a firebeast roars across the BlackPath . Oka scolds him, and tells him to go eat dandelions with Tobi , and Toklo grumbles he hates Dandelions and Tobi is weak. When Toklo gives dandilions to Tobi, Tobi eats them like he was chewing a rock. Toklo sighs and tries to eat a Dandelion, daydreaming about how much better his life could be if Tobi had not been born. Oka calls her cubs and tells them they are going to leave. Toklo wants to go to the mountains, but Oka says Tobi is too weak to climb there. Toklo gets upset, and Oka leads them across the BlackPath, and finds a roadkill deer for them to eat. Toklo refuses as Tobi eats it, and goes to hide behind the tree. Then he remembers some grain some Snakebeasts had dropped on the SilverPath and gets Oka and Tobi to come. When they do find some grain, Toklo finally likes what he eats, until a adult male bear comes, and Oka forces Toklo to retreat. Toklo is angry tohe bear stole the grain he found. Oka then yells that Toklo and Tobi are skin and bones and announces they are going to the mountains. We now go back to Kallik, while her and her family are trying to escape the ice before burn-sky. Her mother finds a BirthDen of seal pups , and after eating them Kallik and Taqqiq start playing with the fins, until Nisa scolds them. When mre bears come, smelling the eaten seals, Nisa and her cubs flee. After a few more sunrises, Taqqiq tries to make his first catch of a seal and fails, but Nsa catches the seal anyway. Then the ice breaks and Taqqiq is forced into the water and Kallik is stranded on an ice island. Nisa save Taqqiq but tells Kallik she has to swim. Kallik is scared of the water but dives in. She drinks seawater but keep swimming until she reaches her mother. Nisa leads them across another break in the ice. They keep walking through the cold and kallik wonders if this is what it is like to be Silaluk. They then reach another break in the ice and Nisa tells her tired cubs she'll take them other one at a time. Nisa takes Kallik first when Kallik sees and Orca . Nisa tells Kallik to swim to shore. Kallik reaches the ice and calls for Nisa to come. Nisa is surrounded by Orcas. Taqqiq is screaming for Nisa and Kallik. Kallik tries to get Nisa to grab her muzzle but and Orca tail thrusts her onto the ice. Kallik sees Nisa telling her to leave and then vanishes under the ice. Kallik then sees blood and a snap of teeth. She is too tired to call out to her brother, who is crying for them, not realizing Kallik is safe. She sees him wander off and curls up to sleep. Lusa is climbing a tree when Yogi challenges her to climb higher than him and that he can see her "favorite grizzly." Lusa responds she doesn't have a favorite grizzly. King tells Lusa she's climbing too slow and will never get to the top. Lusa says she's still learning. King instructs her on how to climb, telling her to act like she's on the ground, and Lusa asks if that's a good idea. King retorts that Black bears are the best climbers. Lusa follows her fathers advice and sees most of the zoo from the top of the tree. Lusa climbs down and asks Stella about the animals. Stella explains the animals and tells Lusa to go tell ask her father more about them as he once lived in the wild. Lusa goes and tells her father about the tigers, monkeys and "flam-ing-os," and asks him if he's seen them in the wild. King replies he hasn't. Confused, Lusa reminds him he used to live in the wild. He replies black bears climb higher than monkeys, stand higher than flamingoes and run faster than tigers, Black bears can do anything and asks her why she asks so many questions and that she'll never live in the wild. Lisa's mother comes and tells her to come with her. When they reach the mountains, Ashia tells Lusa to close her eyes, and they're in the forest and are surrounded by Tigers. Yogi comes by, and Lusa laughs as he's not scary. Ashia sees King and tells Lusa to hde because another bear is coming. Lusa and Ashia climb in the trees. Lusa thinks living like this would be fun and wonders If she'll ever live In the wild. Toklo is climbing up the mountain with Oka and Tobi. Toklo asks Oka about Salmon and Oka shows him how to catch some. Toklo says he'll catch more salmon than any other bear. Later when he and Oka are climbing he grabs a stick and says he caught a salmon. Oka says the fish are very slippery and takes the stick. Toklo and Oka play-fight over it, and Toklo enjoys it. He is very annoyed with Tobi when Tobi cries he's sick and Oka runs to him. Oka carries Tobi on her back and goes up the mountain until almost night when Toklo complains and shows his mother his bloody paws. Oka makes a makeshift den with Toklo's help and sleeps. When Toklo awakes, he sees Tobi with wide eyes, and notices he smells funny. Toklo is scared and asks if Tobi will join the spirits in the water. Tobi then closes his eyes and dies. Oka runs up and wails about Tobi, yelling at Toklo for not waking her up. She looks to the sky and demands to know why all her sons had to die like this. Toklo is confused as he is still alive. After a while he asks Oka if they are going to the mountain. Oka turns to him sadly and tells Toklo it's their fault Tobi is dead and because of them Tobi will never be a water spirit. Trivia *In the English version of the book, when Kallik asks Nisa, "why is she running?", Nisa answers, "because it is snow-sky and she is hunting", however, in the United Kingdom version, Nisa answers, "because she is being chased"﻿ *The scene where Oka forces Toklo to run away from the grain and let the brown bear have it is similar to when Kallik and her family had to leave the seal to the white bear. Category:Books Category:Released Category:Original series